XPost: rec.games.frp.dnd   
   From: weberm@polaris.net   
      
   spallshurgenson@gmail.com wrote:   
      
   >Well, no surprise here after the lackluster response to the D&D movie.   
      
   Really? I thought it did respectfully well, at least better than previous   
   attempts and enough to discuss another movie.   
      
   >I've said it before, and I'm saying it again:   
   >   
   >Dungeons & Dragons is not an exciting license on which to base a   
   >television or movie franchise. The GAME is exciting. The various IPs   
   >-Ravenloft, Baldurs Gate, Drizzt DuOrden, Spelljammer- are all great.   
   >But D&D is a lousy license that alone can't carry a movie. A D&D movie   
   >(or TV show) without those associated worlds is... well, it's just   
   >dull fantasy adventure with some license-specific monsters. Nobody is   
   >going to go to see the D&D movie /because/ the wizard uses "Bigby's   
   >Grasping Hand" or so they can see a rust monster. They'd go to see a   
   >D&D movie because they want to see Raistlin or Elminster or Drizzt.   
   >   
   >But -for whatever reason- we never get movies that use those   
   >intellectual properties. Whether its because Hollywood doesn't want to   
   >be bound to somebody elses world-building, or because Hasbro isn't   
   >licensing anything but the D&D branding, I don't know.   
   >   
   >And, honestly, I'm not even sure that /with/ the characters and   
   >settings associated with D&D you'd get a good movie. What makes for a   
   >good game setting doesn't necessarily translate into a good cinematic   
   >experience. The D&D world is weird; a melange of ideas that is   
   >designed for DMs to pick-and-choose to make their own exciting   
   >adventures. Its character classes are unrealistic, designed for game   
   >balance (and, at least in the older editions, for team-building) over   
   >realism. It has little structure and coherence. It's fun for a game.   
   >It's not really great for narrative.   
   >   
   >I don't think it's surprising that D&D and Hollywood have never really   
   >come out with a hit product based on the brand. It is surprising that   
   >it took Hollywood to realize it.   
      
   How would do it, if you had to?   
      
   --   
   Let's go Brandon!   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)